In the first quarter of this year, iPhone sales in China dropped by 19%

Apple falls from the top spot in the Chinese smartphone market, marking its worst performance since 2020.

According to the latest data from Counterpoint Research, in the first quarter of 2024, Apple's iPhone sales in China dropped by 19%, marking its worst performance in the country since 2020.

It is reported that Apple's market share in the Chinese smartphone market increased by approximately 1.5% to 15.7% year-on-year, slipping from the first position to the third position compared to the same period last year. In addition, vivo captured a market share of 17.4%, ranking first; Honor ranked second with a market share of 16.1%, trailing vivo by 1.3 percentage points; Huawei ranked fourth with a share of 15.5%, showing a significant year-on-year increase of 6.2%.

During the traditional peak consumption season, including the first quarter of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the weakness in iPhone sales data is particularly pronounced. In contrast, Huawei's sales grew by nearly 70%, indicating that the brand is making a comeback in the high-end smartphone market once dominated by Apple.

Some analysts point out that this indicates that Chinese consumers, as one of Apple's largest markets, are embracing Huawei's return.

Ivan Lam, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint, stated:

"With Huawei's resurgence, it directly impacted Apple's performance in the high-end market, suppressing Apple's sales this quarter."

"Furthermore, compared to previous years, Apple's replacement demand has slightly decreased."

Earlier, Wall Street News also mentioned that Apple's global iPhone shipments in the first quarter dropped by nearly 10%, raising concerns about Apple's sustained growth potential.

Since the beginning of the year, Apple's stock price has fallen by over 10%, underperforming the overall market, and its position as the most valuable company by market capitalization has been overtaken by Microsoft.

Apple is set to release its financial report for the first quarter of 2024 on May 2nd local time